


Come home, Ade

by ladynoirose



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir-centric, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Bad Parent Emilie Agreste, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Established Relationship, F/M, Halloween, Haunted Houses, Inspired by The Haunting of Hill House, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Married Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Mentioned Gabriel Agreste, Mentions of Blood, Parent Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Please Don't Kill Me, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Psychological Horror, dubious death circumstances, ghost - Freeform, y'all know where this is going
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27393301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladynoirose/pseuds/ladynoirose
Summary: When he finally reaches the door he can move like nothing happened. He is about to open it, when a flash of lighting illuminates the bedroom, and he sees her.She is in her ladybug costume, and looks scared out of her mind."Don't go" she forms the words with her mouth but they don't come out at all, he can't even hear a whisper. Is like a soundproof wall is separating them and there is a line Adrien can't cross to reach for her. As soon as she appears she is gone.Adrien opens the door.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Emilie Agreste, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Come home, Ade

**Author's Note:**

> TW: This fic is inspired by the episode "The Bent-Neck Lady" from The Haunting of Hill House. There are dubious death circumstances so if that's not your cup of tea, please refrain from reading, better be safe than sorry! Also, description of sleep paralysis! Stay safe, hope you have a wonderful day!
> 
> Happy Late Halloween!  
> Thanks to Mel, as always, for being my beta♥

The first thing he notices is that he is back in the house.

Not home. Never home. The house. His childhood house.

Home was streets away, a little house with soft yellow walls and a bright red roof. He remembers telling Marinette that it looked just like the ones in the children books his mom used to read to him. She couldn't help but agree. 

It was perfect. "It's our forever house" she stated when they first moved in. And it had a lot of rooms too. For friends or family visiting.

For children.

They never could get into that at the end.

But he forgets about the yellow house as soon as he recognizes the ceiling he is looking at. He is in his teenage room, lying in his bed. It perturbs him not catching any smell of camembert. 

He can't move. He can't really see much. Is a stormy night, the only source of light is the occasional flash of lightning. He tries to move his fingers and they only tremble a little. He tries to call for her, out of habit, even if he knows she won't answer, she can't. His mouth can't form the words. He can't even scream. He knows he is panicking, the way his breathing is fast and erratic isn't normal. He feels a heavy force trying to choke him but there is nothing he can see. He doesn't feel hands around his neck. He wishes he were Chat Noir, the night vision would come in handy. Then he remembers the incredible pain that would be wearing his miraculous without her to wear hers and he prefers to be in that cold empty bed in that equally cold house without it. That is a pain he knows he can bear.

Then out of sudden, finally, his body starts to respond to his commands. He crawls out of the bed with all his strength,

_She is meters away from him; splayed in the floor like a ragged doll, there is blood -so much blood- coming from her, forming a pool under her body. Where she is still, he can't stop moving; he is trembling like he has hypothermia, chattering teeth and all. Broken sobs make their way from his throat. He crawls, half dead himself, to be beside her when he finally gives up. He already feels like it._

_"No, please don't" he cups her cheek with his hand, the black leather glove becoming darker because of the blood. "I can fix this" he claims, pressing their foreheads together, taking her hand, fixing her hair, having the strange instinct of rocking her back and forth like he would lure her to sleep, but he knows he can't fix it -not this- and that he won't, because it isn't what she would have wanted. He is not his father._

_The worst thing isn't that she doesn't live._

_The worst thing is that he does._

When he finally reaches the door he can move like nothing happened. He is about to open it, when a flash of lighting illuminates the bedroom, and he sees her.

She is in her ladybug costume, and looks scared out of her mind. 

"Don't go" she forms the words with her mouth but they don't come out at all, he can't even hear a whisper. Is like a soundproof wall is separating them and there is a line Adrien can't cross to reach for her. As soon as she appears she is gone.

Adrien opens the door.

The house is cold. Nino had once said that it probably was a haunted mansion. Adrien brushed it aside at the time, but now he agrees. There is an uneasy feeling in his chest complimenting the cold. That's what he is thinking, until the lights turn on. The big staircase that used to look so impotent is decorated with all types of flowers on the railings. The sad painting of him and his father is replaced by a big mural of the heroes of Paris, he recognizes Nathaniel's style. There are fairy lights everywhere, giving the room a warm and bright feeling. He sees a lot of roses, red, soft pink, yellow roses surrounding the room; it almost looks like a greenhouse. Adrien looks down at himself and notices he is wearing a tux. There is ringing in his ears until he hears soft piano notes coming from his bedroom, someone is probably playing his grand piano. He is pretty sure there wasn't anyone else with him there. He stands at the top of the stairs, right down the center of the mural when he sees her again.

This time, Marinette is waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Wedding dress on, with the biggest and brightest smile he is ever seen, she gave the fairy lights a run for their money. In the white and soft red details she seemed ethereal, but then she always seemed ethereal to Adrien. Ever since the first day they met. She extends her hand to him, and he runs to her. Like a moth to a flame, like she just pulled his red string to her. He takes her hand, the same way she took his umbrella the very first time their hands meet, storm roaring behind them too then, and with the other one she cups his cheek. 

"Hello, my love" She says and Adrien looks at her flabbergasted, like he can't quite understand he heard her voice. She looks and sounds just as he remembered. Her eyes don't leave his once. 

"My lady" he says, between tears. He feels the same way he did lying in the bed, but this time being his mind and not his body who doesn't catch up with him. "I missed you so much" he presses their foreheads together and breathes in the feeling. She is so close. It's been ages since she had been this close, in his head. Adrien feels like all the fear, all the despair, all the feeling of emptiness is gone. 

"I'm here" she says, and hugs him. He hugs her with the same enthusiasm, almost clinging to her. 

"Please don't leave" he pleads into her shoulder.

"But I already did" she whispers. Then, louder, "I'm here".

She lets go of him. 

"There is someone who wants to see you" she declares and starts walking to his father's old office, dragging the dress behind her tiny barefoot feet. She turns to look at him right in the eye, "You are expected". 

He tries to follow her- he can’t remember a moment since they meet where he doesn't follow her lead- but when he opens the big door, she is gone. There is only a dim light in the desk, the lamp besides a drawing of him and his parents. He has a sinking feeling, his heart becoming one with the thunder. That is until he hears it.

"Ade" a soft voice calls to him, his siren in the dark. It isn't Marinette's voice. Marinette didn't call him Ade, only _she _did. He can recognize Marinette's voice anywhere, her voice stuttering, explaining a plan, consoling him, i love yous and goodbyes and good mornings and i'm sorrys that he would never forget. Even if he tried.__

____

____

"I'm sorry" she had said, in the end. 

This wasn't Marinette's voice. This was a voice from a distant memory. Almost like another Adrien had heard it. It felt like a soft forehead kiss in his skin, like the flutter of a butterfly’s wings. He walks to the portrait of the woman he once knew, the one who birthed him. Her perfect smile intact as always. Even when he was unhappy, even when he was lonely, even when he was hurt, she always smiled down at him.

"Ade"

He starts touching the parts of the painting that will open the passage. In less than five minutes, he is standing in the middle of the sinister garden that plagues his nightmares, encircled by butterflies. 

Maybe this is another one.

At the end of the large hallway, where her resting place used to be, Emilie Agreste is standing with open arms.

"You were having the strangest dream" she confides to him. He doesn't understand how she knows. Even when he was little, she always could tell. 

Maybe it's because what thirteen years old Adrien would have liked to do, but Adrien doesn't care about the motives, what matters is that he runs to her and accepts the hug, surrounding her with his own arms.

"Where have you been?" He doesn't know why he asks this. He knows where she has been. All this time.

_She was right here._

She looks at him, and declares; "You forgot something" she takes off her necklace - Adrien notices the peacock miraculous hangs from the fine chain- and places it on Adrien's neck. "Now it's where it belongs" she seems proud of him and that’s everything Adrien ever wanted before she left him. 

_She was right here._

"I was right here too. I screamed and cried and called so many times for you but you never answered. Nobody could see me" Adrien tells her, hoping that she would listen, unlike his own father. He remembers the empty seats at the dinners, being left out from friend gatherings, the constant feeling of being alone and uncared for. He knows better than anyone that losing the care of your loved ones is worse than never having experienced it, because then you know what you are missing. 

He remembers the now empty yellow house streets away- their children would never get to sleep in those bedrooms-remembers holding _her _body, pleading and calling her name, brushing from her face the beautiful dark hair drenched in her blood, calling for someone, _anyone_ to see them, to help them. __

_____ _

_____ _

“Your father and I tried so hard… so hard to keep you away from the terrible and hungry outside world” she pauses, deep in thought, “You were safe in here. Not going outside... nothing bad could touch you inside this walls” Emilie affirms. “Nothing good could either” his son reproaches. She pays him no mind. 

“ You were perfect...then I sent you away, into the dark, and you got hurt” His mom whispers to him. “Your heart broke so much that you couldn’t feel anything happy” He sees tears rolling down her cheeks. “But I can protect you now” Her smile becomes bigger. 

"Mom?" there is the strange feeling again, like someone is choking him, but it grows and grows until it hurts too much to breath. When he turns to look at her, he notices that they aren't where the casket was supposed to be anymore. He was standing at the edge of the long platform that leaded there, rope hanging around his neck, no miraculous in sight, his strong grip in the railing the only thing keeping him from falling into the void. His mother appears at his side.

"No...No" he pleads but his head isn't into it. Not now that she is gone. But there is a part of him that can't leave her sacrifice go in vain. "Please, don't". 

Emilie just smiles at him. She always smiles. Adrien thinks how in the movies, the person dying always called for their parents, in their last breaths. He remembers watching random movies on Saturday nights with Marinette, war heroes, soldiers crying, hopelessly calling for their mommies. Marinette had called for Tom and Sabine too.

"Plagg! Plagg!" is what Adrien says.

Emilie takes his hand.

"It's time to wake up, Ade" she kisses her son's forehead and then he falls. 

From the other side of the wall, Ladybug screams.


End file.
